The Heart of the Night
by Finmide
Summary: Ayano encounters a mysterious person who saves her from a Yoma. Then next thing she knows she is told to "Find out more" about this person. What secrets does this person have? Are they a threat to the Kannagi family? (this is my first completed story, so yay me. I think it's because this isn't as long as the other ones.)
1. Chapter 1

The Heart of the Night

By: Finmide

[Note: I don't own Kaze no Stigma or its characters. Also I plan to keep this one short, like five or six chapters, maybe a little more depending on how the story goes.]

Chapter 1

The crimson haired Ayano was walking back home with her friends on the breezy autumn day. As always she was walking home with her friends Yukari and Nanase. Yukari was rambling on about something going on in the student body, which Ayano wasn't really paying attention to lately her thought have been elsewhere. Thinking of the possibility of a mission to go on, or maybe training or something of that sort, also she kept stretching her sense out in search of any yomas that would be present.

"I really don't think Itsukari should be class president. What do you think Ayano?" Yukari asked.

Ayano, who wasn't paying attention was caught off guard by the question, "Um, yeah whatever you said," she quickly respond.

"Ayano you seem to be distracted," Nanase brought up.

"Yeah, are you thinking about you boyfriend Kazuma?" Yukari teased.

"WHAT!? No, I'm not thinking of him and he's not my boyfriend," Ayano fought back without success.

"I don't know why you insist on keeping it a secret, It's obvious that you like him," Yukari said with a smirk.

Suddenly something bothered Ayano's consciousness. She could feel a dark presence in the air. Ignoring her friends she quickly looked around. But however she could not see anything at the moment. Ayano started to relax a little thinking that she probably over reacting. But just as she let her guard down something grabbed at her leg and lifted her away. The dirty slimy tentacle pulled Ayano into an ally way toward its owner which looked like nothing but a pile of trash with a face. Ayano also then recognized that the yoma grab Yukari and Nanase also. The yoma started pulling Ayano toward it's greasy and grimy mouth.

"Ah, what kind of Yoma is this?" Ayano shrieked in disgust at the pile of garbage, " I will not be eaten today," She said stubbornly.

Summoning Enraiha, she imbued the sacred sword with her fire and used it to cut the tentacle, which caused the creature to scream in pain before using more tentacles to grab Ayano by all of her limbs and prevent her from attacking. Ayano struggled and pushed against the ground to try to get away but the Yoma was strong and kept pulling her closer.

"Must kill Kannagi," the Yoma moaned.

Ayano was shocked, now the yoma can talk? Since when could yoma's talk, because all the ones Ayano encountered couldn't. Ayano struggle trying as hard as she could to move her hand to attack the beast but the tentacles held her arms in place.

In her mind she now was thinking that this would be the end; that she would die by getting eaten by a trash monster. However that's when she felt an even stronger dark presence nearby. Black shards flew through the air, and stabbed through the beast as it shrieked in pain. Finally one single shard shot through the yoma in between its eye. The creature scream and fell apart into nothing but a normal pile of trash.

"Hey I had that under control!" Ayano yelled out expecting Kazuma, but however when she turned it was someone else. Someone with black hair and silver eyes, they wore a black coat and black cargo pants.

The person turned and walked away, not saying a single word. Yukari and Nanase who had got all the garbage off their clothes walked up to Ayano.

"Looks like your boyfriend has some competition," Nanase said, but however Ayano didn't care at the moment.

"Who was that?" Ayano asked.

"I've seen him before; he actually goes to our school. His name is Royuku Fujimoto; he usually keeps to himself sitting in dark corners. He never talks to anybody well not to anybody I know, which is everyone in our school practically. Rumor says his parents were murdered by gangsters, and ever since he isolated himself from others," Yukari explained.

When Yukari finished she was met with the stares of her two friends. They looked scared and amazed at her knowledge of this person.

"You know I'm starting to wonder where you get this information, because it's a little creepy," Ayano remarked.

Back at the Kannagi grounds, Ayano lay in her bed looking up at the ceiling. When she got back from school it ended up that there were no missions or anything for her so she just walked about the property meditating and training. They ate the family meal, and now it was time to go to bed. But Ayano couldn't stop thinking about that person who saved her. She could still see those eyes of his. They were silver and glowed somewhat like the moon at night. Ayano knew that wasn't normal, there's no natural way a person could have that eye color. But they were so mesmerizing just by looking at them once. Ayano closed her eyes and went to sleep. Her dreams were filled with fighting yoma's and spending time with family members. But she could still see those eyes in the darkness.

In the morning Ayano quickly bathed herself, and got dressed for school, and then she went down to the family breakfast. When down there she saw that everyone was already gathered, but she also noticed that Kazuma was there. This usually would have set her of in a bad mood because she gets irritated at how he keeps trying to seduce girls. But strangely today she felt okay by his presence.

"Ah Ayano good morning, I trust you slept well?" her father Jugo asked her when she entered.

"Yeah, I slept fine," she said off handily as she got herself some food.

"Good because once you get home from school I have a job for you and Kazuma to handle, so please don't make any plans today," Jugo informed Ayano.

"Sure thing," Ayano replied.

She started to eat when she noticed that Jugo was looking at her. At first she tried to ignore it, but her conscience told her something might be wrong.

"Is there something else you wanted to tell me father?" Ayano asked.

"yes, please come with me," Jugo told her as he stood up and left the room.

Ayano, slightly confused got up and followed him, they were just in the next room over which was far enough to be considered alone. There Jugo posed his question, "Are you alright? Something seems to be occupying your mind. I can tell from your lack of attention you started showing yesterday."

Ayano was slightly taken aback by the question, how come everyone said she seemed distracted. However she did need to tell him something but she was unsure how to word it. Maybe she could just say it for what it really was. She had nothing to lose anyway, plus this might help the Kannagi family.

"Father, I encountered someone yesterday," She started, "I could sense a lot of dark energy coming from this person."

Jugo thought for a moment, he seemed disturbed at the information.

"Is this person dangerous? How powerful was he?"

"Well he wasn't exactly dangerous, he actually saved my life. I also found out that his name is Royuku Fujimoto, a social shut in practically," Ayano told him.

"We would need to find out more of this person, because people who keep things to themselves usually could become dangerous. I'll give you and Kazuma this job, the other mission can be completed by Ren," Jugo figured.

Ayano was surprised that Jugo would tell her to actually go and find this person. However she is going to be the next family head and she needed to learn how to handle situations like this. So it only made sense, but unlike most of her missions she was unsure how to handle this one.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ayano met up with Kazuma after school, she had found out where this Royuku person lived from Yukari, The two immediately took a path to intercept Royuku. Ayano figured that she could try the pleasant way. It would be easiest to just try talking to the guy, right? They ran along the sidewalks until the came up to a small park. That is where they saw him walking along the concrete path. Ayano signal Kazuma to stay a safe distance back so that this Royuku person wouldn't feel threated.

Ayano the slowly walked up behind him, but not to close.

"Royuku Fujimoto?" she asked.

The boy stopped in his tracks, there was a long pause before anything was said.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I never got to thank you for saving me, If it hadn't been for you I would have been eaten by that trash mound," Ayano told him.

"Your welcome," he said before he continued walking.

"Does it seem weird that I know your name even though you never told me?" she asked, but then silently berated herself for asking that question.

"Not really, I know Yukari told you my name, I also know that your name is Ayano Kannagi. You're the daughter of Jugo Kannagi the current family head, and you are appointed to become the next family head. Your unable to control your powers when they are at maximum capacity, and you have been granted the sacred sword Enraiha after defeating Kazuma Kannagi in a match. Kazuma is your oldest cousin who could never learn how to use the fire stigma and was disowned for that very reason. Your younger cousin's name is Ren Kannagi and he's always happy cheerful and a peace bringer. Only fights when he really has to or to stop an injustice that is occurring. I know that you have anger problems and that you think Kazuma is a rat for seducing woman, not just any woman, but woman from your own family or even servants you had become close too. Also Kazuma has been anointed as your body guard and is getting paid for his time spent. Did I miss anything?" Royuku rattled of so fast that Ayano could almost not keep up with him, and his ending question put her off a little.

"How do you know so much about me?" Ayano asked with a little frustration.

"My power, It lets me search the memories of a stigma user however I cannot control it, It happens almost like impulse. I have yet the ability to hold it back," He said.

"Um, that's a little creepy," Ayano commented.

"I know, it's like living everyone's lives all in your mind," Royuku explained.

"Does that happen every time you get close to a person?" She asked.

"No, only the first time thankfully, because otherwise I wouldn't get a moments peace," Royuku answered.

Ayano quickly glance over at Kazuma who was leaning up against a tree with his eyes closed like as if he was meditating or something. Ayano turned back to Royuku, who also looked back at Kazuma for a brief moment. Then Royuku knew what Ayano was thinking, when he saw the look in her eyes.

"You want to know where he has been this entire time, since he had been kicked out. How he survived on his own. But I should tell you even though I can see people's memories, doesn't mean I will share those memories without their permission," he said.

"But you told me my memories," Ayano said.

"Well, that's because you already know your own memories," Royuku said as he started walking away.

This time Ayano didn't follow him, she figured he would want to be left alone for now. As she headed back toward Kazuma she thought about the conversation. That's when she realized the stupidity of her last comment. Of course he would tell Ayano her own memories. She really was starting to lose her touch for some reason. It's probably nothing.

"Alright Kazuma, we got what we needed," She said trying to sound like her normal self.

The two started walking back to the Kannagi grounds, for the first couple of blocks both were completely silent, but Kazuma broke the silence.

"So he can read memories?" Kazuma asked calmly.

Ayano tensed up, how could he know that? Kazuma was standing like twenty feet away when Royuku told her that. There's no way how Kazuma can hear that far away.

"How do you know that?" she questioned with a little anger.

Kazuma smirked, "Science obviously, air carries vibrations and I control the air, so figure it out," he said.

"Do you always eaves drop on me?" Ayano queried in shock and anger.

"No, only if your with someone who has a large amount of dark energy pulsating from them," Kazuma replied sternly.

"Come on Kazuma, he saved my life."

" So what!" Kazuma said raising his voice so much that he sounded angry, "There is no way a person could have that much darkness and still be able to control themselves. The darkness corrupts people, it controls them, and you have seen it yourself. But just because he saved your life doesn't mean he's on our side. He could be trying to get your trust so if anything happens you would take his side."

"Don't be ridiculous Kazuma, why are you so paranoid?" Ayano yelled back at him.

"Because I want to protect my family!" Kazuma said finally.

"Well your being to protective," Ayano shot back at him.

There was a long pause where the two just looked at each other with anger brewing in both of them. Kazuma nodded and then turned and started walking the opposite direction.

"Where are you going?" Ayano called out to him.

"Away, because obviously you don't want protection," Kazuma called back without turning to look at her.

Ayano watched as Kazuma walked away. She wasn't going to stop him, because if he didn't want the money for protecting her then that's fine by her. The Kannagi family could use that money instead of giving it to that leech. Ayano continued walking home, alone.

When she got back to the house she was immediately met by Ren, the blonde haired fire user looked at her with a little curiosity.

"How did your mission go?" He asked.

"Fine," she said wishing not to talk.

"Where is Kazuma, isn't he going to join us for the evening meal?" Ren asked.

"No, Kazuma is gone Ren, and I doubt he's coming back, well at least not anytime soon," Ayano replied.

Meanwhile…

Royuku walked down the street that his aunt's house was on. He thought briefly of the conversation he had with Ayano Kannagi, but quickly put it aside. He soon arrived at the small blue house and walked up onto the porch, there he went digging into his pockets to find his house key.

"Hello Royu, long time no see," said a voice behind him.

Royuku paused for a moment and searched to figure out where he heard that voice before. Then he remembered.

"Aon, have you come to kill me," he asked as he turned.

There were two people standing there, one was a boy his age with spiky silver hair and orange eyes, while the other one was older, bald, and had insect like lenses for eyes. The silver haired boy took a step forward.

"yes, but I wanted to show you my new acquaintance, since we last met I made a new friend. He then introduced me to this fellow you see here," Aon said pointing to the bug man.

"They call him Fire Fly, and if you're wondering why you couldn't see his memories, let me tell you he is not a stigma user. He's pure engineering, genetic engineering," Aon commented.

Royuku looked at Fire Fly, at that moment he thought " what sick minded person would do this to somebody." Royuku then looked at Aon and thought that most likely any of his friends would.

"What's the purpose of me meeting Fire Fly?" Royuku asked.

"Oh, well he's going to kill you," Aon said.

That's when Fire Fly let out a screech and spat out fire toward Royuku who ducked just in time to dodge it. The flame past him and hit the house, lighting the door on fire, luckily Royuku's aunt wasn't home. Royuku used his mind to call out to the darkness, and he let it infuse into him. The darkness created a thick leathery skin above his as he turned into a beast. The black beast that Royuku turned into had long sharp teeth, and large curled horns like a ram. It's claws looked sharp enough to cut steel, and there was a small gem in the center of his chest.

Fire Fly ignored the transformation and spat another ball of fire, which Royuku let hit him right on the gem which absorbed the fire inside of it, and now the beast eyes glowed orange. Immediately the beast shot a fire ball back at Fire Fly who shriek in pain as he caught fire and started burning.

"Pathetic, I really thought he would be enough of a challenge for you, oh well. I'll finish you myself," Aon said as he watched Fire Fly burn to death.

Aon threw up his hand and a beam of light shot out and tore up the ground as he followed the beast which ran from the beam of light. Royuku in his beast form ran up the wall to the house so that he could make it onto the roof. But Aon used his light beams to shred the house underneath the beast. As Royuku dodged the beams he could start feeling the mind of the dark beast taking control, he could feel it trying to crowd out his consciousness.

"Have you still not gained control of that beast yet?" Aon asked deviously.

Aon then ran over toward Royuku and summoned a shard of light that formed into a crystal. With swift movement he jumped toward the beast. Royuku tried taking control to run but the beast no could have its will and it ran straight toward Aon. Aon then thrust the shard straight into the gut of the beast and it pierced through his skin and flesh. Royuku tried with all his will power to disperse the beast which finally happened after sapping almost all of his strength. Now he was just his normal self with a crystal stabbed into his gut.

The crystal faded away leaving behind a burn, around the edges of the wound. Aon convinced that he had Royuku beat was ready to make the final blow. Aon summoned a thin curved edge into his hand and pointed it straight at Royuku.

"Rest in turmoil friend," he said before raising his arm.

Royuku closed his eyes ready for the blade to pierce his head, but it never came. When Royuku opened his eyes he was in the gymnasium of his school. Bleeding out on the mats, Royuku dragged himself up against the wall and lay back against the wall.

"Just my luck, he found me," Royuku said to himself.

He looked at the gaping wound he had, he had worse before, his powers will slowly heal him, as long as Aon didn't find him to finish him off.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Karika Tachibana kneeled in front of the ruined house. She touched her fingers to the ash covered tinder and examined it up close. The texture was slightly different from ordinary ash.

"It's a fire user alright. It feels a little different but this no doubt fire magic," Karika said to the rookie by her side.

"Um, what else could it have been?" the rookie asked.

"I don't know, things have a way of surprising you," Karika responded as she strode over to the charred body nearby.

"Do you want us to take a biological sample of the tissue for DNA analysis, figure out who this was?" the rookie asked as Karika examined the body.

"Yeah, because we need to figure out who was fighting who, and how this guy got in the middle of it."

The rookie nodded and went to grab a piece of flesh from the body and put it in a small tube.

Meanwhile…

Ayano woke up in the morning and had breakfast, she went to her school classes and once school was over she once again found herself walking home with her friends Yukari and Nanase.

"Hey Ayano did you hear that there was a mysterious trail of blood in the gymnasium? Nobody knows how it got there," Yukari asked with amazement.

"Don't worry it's probably the seniors playing pranks, either that or someone one was murdered. But I would bet on the prank," Ayano commented.

"you really would guess murder?" Nanase asked.

"Hey I'm a Kannagi, we have seen many things," Ayano replied, "Anyways I'm going to visit someone."

"Is it your boyfriend?" the two girls asked in unison.

"He's not my boyfriend," Ayano called out as she ran off.

About half an hour later Ayano was knocking on the door to a close by hotel. She waited a few moments and then knocked again, however there still was no reply.

"Come on Kazuma, open the door before I kick it down," Ayano called through the door, hoping he would open it, because it was a metal door.

"Go away," a voice said from inside.

"Okay then, you're asking for it," Ayano said ignoring his request for her to leave.

She took a step back and the brought her leg up into a sturdy kick against the door which broke the frame as it opened. Surprised that she was actually strong enough to kick open a metal door, Ayano invited herself in.

"I warned you," she said as she walked in.

Immediately when she walked in and saw glass bottles everywhere. She looked at them and noticed that they were wine bottles. She walked further and saw that Kazuma was laying on the couch, all disheveled and frankly he kinda looked like a bum from off the streets. Kazuma didn't even shave that morning. Kazuma just sat there staring at the ceiling.

"Did quitting really do this to you?" Ayano asked as she kicked a wine bottle to the side.

"No, there was this chick at a casino, who ended up being a guy," Kazuma said quietly.

"really I never thought you would have either gone to a casino or even try picking someone up at one .And I really didn't think you would drink yourself to destruction," Ayano said as she found a clear spot to side.

"I wasn't drinking, I was throwing the bottles out the window with messages in them," he said as he scrawled a note on a piece of paper and put it in the bottle. Then he threw it out of the window from his spot the couch.

"Um okay then, I thought that would be dangerous to other people," Ayano said hoping Kazuma would come to the same conclusion, which he did because he stopped.

"Now what am I supposed to do with the rest I collected?" he asked no one in particular.

Ayano was a little disappointed, because she had never expected Kazuma to ever act like this. This was literally in every sense of the word, pathetic. Now she obligated to give him his life back practically.

"Do you want the job again?" she asked.

"No"

"What, why?" Ayano asked him.

"I'm sorry, I can't protect a client who on purposely tries putting themselves in harm's way," Kazuma said getting up and heading over to the fridge.

"Well if you won't protect a client, then would you protect family?" She asked him.

"The Kannagi's are not my family," Kazuma replied hastily.

"Well that's not what you said yesterday," Ayano accused, " you said that you didn't want harm to come to your family. Am I supposed to believe that you had a slip of the tongue, that you misspoke?"

"Yes, you should think I misspoke, because as far as I'm concerned I was never related to the Kannagi's" Kazuma said grabbing himself a drink.

Filled with anger Ayano stood up and headed for the door. Kazuma was being a total jerk right now and frankly she didn't care how he was doing without his job. Besides she could always take Ren with her on missions, he was pretty capable. Plus Ren would be more tolerable then Kazuma ever could hope to be. Ayano stomped her way to the hotel elevator. She pressed the lobby button and watched the doors close.

As Ayano was walking out she informed the manager that a certain guest of theirs was throwing wine bottles out the window. She didn't care right now if he got in trouble. Actually she was kind of hoping for it right now. She started heading for the local mall, she knew that Yukari and Nanase would be shopping today. Anyways she needed to calm down, and hanging out with friends was probably the best way to do it.

At the mall Ayano found Yukari and Nanase at the food court. They had just finished their evening meals. Yukari waved when she saw Ayano coming over.

"Hey Ayano, I thought you would be going home after visiting Kazuma" she said.

"Oh, well Kazuma was being a jerk," Ayano said as she sat down and joined them.

"Oh really, do you want desserts?" Nanase asked Ayano.

"Oh no, I just want to spend time with people who aren't jerks," Ayano replied.

"Okay how about let's have a look around shall we, because buying stuff always makes feel better," Yukari said.

"Um I don't think that I could afford anything," Ayano said as they dragged her off.

The three of them walked around aimlessly looking into random stores they passed. Yukari was buying stuff here and there while Nanase was a little more reserved. But within a few minutes both of them had a large amount of bags with them. While they were walking along the halls of the mall passing an uncounted number of people, but Ayano felt a familiar feeling, the feeling of a great mass of darkness nearby. Ayano turned and saw someone in a black coat nearby with their hood up. Ayano walked up to the person and tapped them on the shoulder. The person turned and Ayano immediately recognized the silver eyes that she saw.

"Royuku? Why are you here?" Ayano asked.

"Hiding," he replied.

"Really, your hiding at the mall?" she asked.

"Yes, there is a large amount of people here; it's easier to lose a person in the crowds. Plus the person searching for me knows that I hate malls, so why would I come here? So I use his logic to figure out where to hide," Royuku said.

"Oh yeah, I heard your house burned down yesterday. Did this person do that?" Ayano asked him.

"More or less," he said.

Ayano nodded, they stood there silently for a second, and then Ayano got an idea.

"Do you have a job?" she asked.

"no, why?"

"how would you like to be my personal body guard?" Ayano asked him.

"don't you already have one?" Royuku asked her.

"No, Kazuma quit because of some differences in opinion. It'll be easier to stay safe if you have multiple people with you. We also have a bunch of guest rooms for you to stay in until you guys get a new house. You pay us off by being my bodyguard. It's a win win," Ayano explained.

"Fine, only because I have a place to live till we get a new house," I tend to like sleeping in beds," Royuku said giving in to the offer.

Of course Ayano felt bad that she really was only doing this to get back at Kazuma. But she figured it was his fault for not taking her offer and basically blowing her off.

Later Royuku was sitting in a room wish Jugo Kannagi they both were examining each other by the looks of it. Royuku just sat across from Jugo, saying nothing. In likewise Jugo did the same, until he broke the silence.

"So you use darkness? How did you gain control of it contractor?" Jugo asked.

"With patience and practice," Royuku answer.

"Did anyone get hurt in the process?"

"Only me sir"

"Really?" Jugo asked.

"really," Royuku answered.

Jugo paused for a moment before continuing.

"You can read memories?" Jugo asked.

"Yes sir, I can. Also it was a car crash right, how your leg got messed up," Royuku said.

This was enough proof for Jugo, because there was no possible way an outsider would have known that.

"One question I must ask is, since you're a contractor, what is your weapon?" Jugo asked.

"what do you mean?" Royuku asked.

"The contractor of fire, the original head of the Kannagi family was given the sword Enraiha long ago, this sword was passed down our family to each family head. Did the spirit king give you a weapon?" Jugo asked.

Royuku thought for a moment and tried recollecting all his memories from the moment he became a contractor. Royuku shook his head, "No I wasn't given one," he replied.

Jugo contemplated the answer, he figured it was because the boy chose an unusual element for a stigma. Jugo also now thinks that this boy would be of great use to the Kannagi family if he is an ally and it would be best for him to make friends with some people in the family. Probably this boy's house getting burned down was a stroke of good luck for the Kannagi's to gain a powerful ally maybe for a future war to come.

"You will do perfectly for the job. We'll have accommodations for you and your aunt prepared. All you have to do is accompany my daughter on missions to protect her," Jugo said.

"I understand Mr. Kannagi, but may I ask something?" Royuku asked.

"yes"

"Why did Kazuma quit?" Royuku continued.

"I'm sorry but my daughter hasn't shared those details with me, maybe you should ask her," Jugo mentioned.

Royuku stood up, and headed for the door. He intended to find out why Kazuma quit, but he had a feeling that Ayano won't tell him. So he intended to find out from none other than Kazuma. He had a feeling that he knew where to find him.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Kazuma arrive back in the room at the new hotel he moved into, he was pretty upset that Ayano would actually get made enough to have him get kicked out. But he deserved it because that was the stupidest idea to cure his boredom ever. He wasn't even sure why he thought of doing that in the first place. However he had just now came back from an interview with a Mr. Okinawa who was looking for a body guard. However Mr. Okinawa turned Kazuma down because he was too young.

Kazuma opened the door to the hotel room and immediately saw a person standing there. He immediately recognized the person, there was very little people who had silver eyes, and only one of them was full of darkness.

"What are you doing here? And how did you know to look for me here?" Kazuma said.

"I figured the contractor of wind would like to be somewhere that he could have access to the wind, so to me that meant somewhere very high up. I figured what a person like you could afford and narrowed it down to this hotel. You want the room to be as high as possible but still be able to pay for the room. So since floors twenty eight through thirty are specialty suites all of them fairly expensive I figured you would be on floor twenty seven. I chose this room because it was room two thousand seven hundred and three and the word air had three letters in it. Wind is just moving air so I thought you would choose that,"

"Um, that's a little weird, and I'm not sure how you guessed the right room with that thought, I just asked for this floor and they gave me this room. Yet that still doesn't explain why you're here," Kazuma said.

"Why did you quit?" Royuku asked.

"Why would you want to know?"

"I like knowing why things happen," Royuku said.

Kazuma thought for a second before responding, "I quit because of you, because she trusted you and I didn't" Kazuma explained.

"Your right, she shouldn't be near me" Royuku answered.

That caught Kazuma off guard he hadn't expected Royuku to say that, now Kazuma began to wonder what he would say next.

"It would be too dangerous for her to stay near me, you have to become her body guard again," Royuku said.

"Whoa, slow down. Why would it too dangerous for her to be near you?" Kazuma asked not because he thought highly of Royuku, but because he wanted to see what this person's answer would be.

Royuku offered Kazuma a seat which was weird because this was Kazuma's place. Kazuma however sat in one of the chairs while Royuku sat on the couch across from him. Then Royuku explained.

"I'm being hunted," Royuku answered, "by a former friend named Aon."

"Former friend? Now what did you do to get him to, hate you?" Kazuma asked.

Royuku stood up and briefly walked over to the window and looked outside. Unsure of what he really was searching for out there, he shut the blinds and slowly walked back.

"His full name is Aon Miyamoto; he had a sister named Hinata Miyamoto. She was the contractor of the light, just like how I was learning to become the contractor of darkness," Royuku started to explain, " We were in love, some much for each other that we were inseparable from each other as it seemed. We never hurt each other; we always spoke our feelings and fixed problems when they came up. We had something so special, so perfect, I wanted to be with her forever… However a greedy genetic scientist heard about us somehow, I never figured out how he did. His name is Dr. Kento Sato, and he kidnapped my dear Hinata along with me. I watched the man murder her right in front of me, and my powers weren't strong enough to save her at the time. I have promised to protect her yet I was unable to do so, I don't remember exactly how I escaped my death. But since I survived and Hinata didn't Aon blamed me for not being able to protect her."

Royuku could still remember that moment, when the dagger punctured through her chest, the sickening sound it made, and the smell of her blood as it dripped on the steel plated floors. The look in her eyes as her life left her. The look that told him that she was afraid, that she didn't want to die, that she wished this wasn't the end. The tears that streamed from her eyes during her last moments in this world.

"Failed to protect her, I don't want anything to happen to anyone else because of this," Royuku explained. He walked toward the door and reached for the handle.

"I know you don't trust me, but believe this, know that your cousin Ayano is in danger around me, and I'm not sure if I would be able to protect her, but I know you can," Royuku said finally before leaving.

Kazuma sat in the chair thinking about what Royuku had said. Wondering if it was all true, because it all sounded pretty convincing. It seems so believable yet fictional at the same time, it was like one of those stories that come from movies or television shows. Yet it all seemed to make sense, it filled in all the holes. Kazuma stood up and ran toward the door.

"I better not get screwed by this," Kazuma said to himself as he started making his way back to the Kannagi grounds.

It was getting dark outside, and Ayano had finished her shower and quickly put on her pajamas ready to turn in for the night. She turned to head over to her bed when she was caught off guard by a person standing in her room. He had silver spikey hair and orange eyes. The second she saw him he threw a dart into her neck which she pulled out almost immediately, giving a little shriek when it happened.

Ayano's vision seemed to start getting distorted, and she willed for a small fire ball to come and torch the boy but nothing happened. She tried again but nothing happened, except for a small feeling of noxiousness from the world around her seeming to spin.

"Why are you here? What did you do to me?" she asked, her words slurring slightly.

"Your magical abilities are used with concentration; this is just a concoction that makes it impossible to concentrate long enough to use any of your powers," the boy said barely understandable to Ayano from the condition she was in.

"Don't worry; it's strong enough where you will go unconscious soon, unless if you fight it, then it will take longer," the boy said.

Ayano was angry, angry that this person would just come in and attack her. She wanted to rip his head off, so she tried lunging at him but her vision and coordination failed her and she sprawled onto the floor. The drug's effects wouldn't allow her to pick herself up. The whole world spun and twisted, some parts were magnified while others seemed to turn microscopic. Ayano tried to crawl toward this mysterious person, determined to hurt him, but when she stretched her hand out it appeared to be five feet big until she placed it on the floor where it appeared only a few centimeters big.

"The colors you see will start looking different," the person said, "And you will start to have tunnel vision crawling up on you."

Ayano could see this as he spoke about it, her skin seemed to turn bluish in color, the orange eyes of her enemy now looked jade green, and his silver hair had a slight red hue. Ayano saw in the mirror that to her, her own hair looked Navy in color. She could feel the thudding of her own pulse in her ears and blackness started to crowd in on her vision.

"Good night, Ayano Kannagi. We have a long trip in front of us. If we are to make it to Osaka as scheduled," the person said right before Ayano completely blacked out.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Royuku entered the Kannagi grounds, of course there were faster ways to travel besides walking, but he felt like he could do with the exercise. Plus it was a beautiful night, even though it was a little chilly. Surprisingly there was nobody out on patrol tonight, or at least nobody that Royuku could feel nearby. He put the thought aside because it probably was nothing.

Royuku walked along the lightened path listening to the sound of the night. But then he heard some movement. Royuku stopped and looked toward where the sound came from but saw nothing. He reached out with his senses but couldn't detect any stigma users nearby.

He heard the sound again. This time he stopped completely in his tracks. He stood still and listened intently. Royuku had a feeling that this wasn't any magic user. He slowly walked toward the edge of the path. Then he felt something on the edge of his consciousness and he made a small wall of darkness which blocks an incoming projectile. When the projectile fell on the ground he noticed that it was a dart.

Royuku looked up just in time to see a monstrous looking thing slash at him. The creature tore his shirt a little bit and put three huge scratches on Royuku's torso. Royuku immediately punched the thing back and realized it was another on of Dr. Sato's assassins one he met before. This one had reptile like eyes so it could see using heat vision, ideal for killing at night.

"Heat Sight, long times no see," Royuku said.

"Dr. Sato wants you dead," Heat sight replied taking out his knife.

Heat Sight started to run toward Royuku but was immediately stopped when a gust of wind came and slit his throat. The body fell to the ground and the blood slowly trickled out. Royuku waited for a second before calling out, "I thought you don't kill people."

"I don't, that wasn't a person," Kazuma replied as he walked up to Royuku.

"Okay then, but I thought you didn't trust me," Royuku added.

"Let's just say your looking a whole lot more trustable then that guy ," Kazuma said pointing to the body of Heat Sight.

"Good point, now I just need to figure out why he's here…" Royuku started but trailed off as he realized something, "Ayano!"

Royuku ran off toward the complex of houses followed by Kazuma. Then he immediately ran to Ayano's room and kicked the door down. But she wasn't in there, and judging by her memories she would have been asleep by now.

"would you like to explain how you know where Ayano's room is?" Kazuma asked with distaste.

"Her memories," Royuku said before continuing, "She had been kidnapped."

"Wow first day on the job, you're not looking to good right now, Kazuma remarked.

"Shut up, I need concentration," Royuku said as he looked around the room.

Royuku then noticed a dart on the ground and he bend down and picked it up. He knew where this dart came from. This was a dart that Dr. Sato specially makes.

"I know where she is," Royuku said.

"You do?" Kazuma asked as he looked at the dart in Royuku's hands.

"Yeah, she's at Osaka."

Ayano woke up on a metal operating table, her arms and legs were clamped down and a bright spot light shone on top of her. She still had some of that dizzy effect from whatever drug she was given. But she could still make things out. A man in a white lab coat with dark brown hair and eyes, he wore glasses which gleamed in the light.

"What's going on here?" she asked.

"Good Morning Ayano Kannagi, sleep well?" the man asked sarcastically.

"Whoever you are, I'm going to rip your head off," Ayano said exhaustedly.

"I'm Dr. Kento Sato, and you are in no position to make threats," the man replied.

Dr. Sato was cleaning some instruments, however Ayano looked around and saw what appeared to be monstrous creatures that were half human and half creature.

"Don't worry, we're not turning you into one of them, we are simply extracting DNA. For you see my life's work is to create a perfect pair of humans. However in order to do that, I need to collect DNA from people who have the right qualities. And I have to say you do have some features that are admirable and needed," Dr. Sato said as he came over and gave Ayano a small injection of the same drug from before.

"I don't want you to burn me, that wouldn't be good now would it?" the doctor said.

"Once I get out of here I'm going to report you to the authorities!" Ayano screamed from the depths of her lungs.

The doctor went back to his tools and started prepping them. He smiled at Ayano's threats, "Your threats are futile, because I'm not letting you out of here. You see, I need a sufficient amount of the DNA sample just in case I make mistakes. The only reason you're not dead already is because I like having people to talk to at least during the first extraction. Then I will kill you," Dr. Sato explained.

Dr. Sato walked back over with another needle, after giving Ayano's arm a few whacks to numb the skin he push the needle through, but Ayano ten afterward felt more pain as the needle puncture through to the marrow of her bones. He injected a liquid and quickly pulled the needle out. Ayano then started to feel a burning sensation from inside her arm. It hurt badly like as if she was being eaten from the inside out.

"What I gave you was a special chemical I designed that causes the marrow to produce blood that is even richer with your DNA then your normal blood cells. However these blood cells can't leave and enter your blood stream, and if left in there they could die off," Dr. Sato explained further, "that feeling you have now is one you never felt before am I right? Since you are a user of fire, you never felt a burn before. Because the fire spirits protect you from the harmful clutches of the flames? Well this substance has a ph. Level of four. Which would make it very painful, it's probably more painful for you since you never felt it before."

The doctor then grabbed an empty needle and again injected in into the marrow and drew out some of the blood which came out thicker than normal blood because of the chemical he had injected. Ayano could barely tolerate the pain any longer tears started to roll down her cheek. The burning sensation just felt like it kept spreading more and more. She started pulling at her restraints trying to free herself.

A sound was heard from behind one of the doors. The doctor seemed nervous and used a tilt of the head to tell some of his mutant assassin guards to check it. A mutant with viper fangs and one that had ridiculously large black eyes went to check the sound. The doctor grabbed a knife from on the table and walked over toward Ayano knowing he had little time to finish his job. He raised the blade ready to plunge it down into Ayano's chest when the door busted open knocking the two assassin's closest to it down. A cloud of darkness streamed into the room and a blast of air came and took the knife from Dr. Sato's hands and threw it into the wall.

"Exoshell, Whiptail, take care of our intruders," Dr. Sato said as he made his way to an exit on the other side of the room.

The two mutant creatures nodded and made their way toward the two figures that came through the doors.

"Now I'm wishing we also brought Ren with us," Kazuma commented.

"I agree, his assistance would be helpful right now," Royuku said.

The mutant assassin whiptail immediately grabbed Kazuma with his long prehensile tail and jumped up into the rafters, leaving Royuku with the mutant that had a hard exoskeleton and large claws.

"This is going to be fun!" Royuku said looking toward Exoshell.

Kazuma landed hard on a metal rafter after his enemy dropped him there. Kazuma almost fell off and dragged himself on top of the rafter. In his mind he call small gust of wind to help balance him on the small beams. His lizard like enemy was much faster than the one that was at the Kannagi grounds. Kazuma felt a slight pain in his side and he noticed that he had a large scratch there.

"Barbed tail eh, you're going to be a tough one," Kazuma said to nobody in particular.

Kazuma tried searching for a presence of any kind but couldn't find where his enemy was. He looked around the darkened rafters. This was going to be a little more difficult then he originally thought. Since he had no sense of where the enemy was and barely any sight it's almost impossible for him to see where to strike out, and no doubt his enemy has heat vision also.

He heard a swish and a light breeze of air behind him, but he didn't turn because the enemy wouldn't be there anymore. Instead he looked in the direction that the enemy went, but still couldn't see the reptilian fiend. Something lashed out and slashed him, Kazuma countered just as quickly with a wave of air which missed the assassin Whiptail.

"where are you?" Kazuma asked to himself.

Meanwhile down below Royuku was throwing dark shard at Exoshell. However they either bounced off of the hard carapace or they put tiny scratches in it. Exoshell tried slashing at Royuku, but Royuku dodged it by simply shifting his body over by se of a portal; a trick that he had learned when Aon was about to end his life. He threw more shards at Exoshell trying to hit the same place over and over again to slowly wear down that shell in that spot. Royuku threw a shard and it once again scrapped at the assassin's left shoulder.

Exoshell tried a triple slash combination which Royuku continued to dodge. Royuku this time put a little more distance between him and Exoshell.

"How am I supposed to beat this guy?" Royuku complained to himself.

He then looked over at Ayano still constrained to the table squirming and crying in pain. From whatever had given her. Then Royuku remembered something about Dr. Sato's extraction process.

Kazuma stood on a metal beam with countless cuts on him. He was getting frustrated now, he couldn't attack his enemy yet his enemy could attack him. This Whiptail was a coward for hiding in the shadows and striking out at unsuspecting prey. If only if Kazuma could see his enemy. Suddenly Kazuma thought of the solution.

He used his powers to stretch out his sense of hearing by allowing the air to amplify sound to him. He could hear the breathing of a creature, and the footsteps it took. He then heard that it stopped and that's when he lashed out with a razor thin wave of air which was followed by a shriek and a reptilian body falling from the rafters.

Exoshell had Royuku pinned up against the table and he thrust out stabbing all his claws into both of Royuku's sides and started raising the mere human in the air. Royuku reached out and grabbed one of the needles that Dr. Sato would have used to inject the acidic blood altering chemical as he was being lifted and knowing fully well how easily it can go through bone material. Royuku stabbed the needle into the head of Exoshell and injected the chemical. Exoshell let out a shriek and collapsed in death from the chemicals affects to his brain.

Kazuma floated down lightly from up in the rafters using the wind to carry him.

"Wow it looks like you got it worse then me," Kazuma remarked seeing that Royuku was stabbed by Exoshell's claws.

Royuku pulled the claws out of his body. It was painful but it will heal, after all he had a lot worse injuries before. Kazuma however being covered in scratches walked over to the table and summoned wind to cut the locks.

"How come she couldn't escape on her own?" Kazuma asked.

"Dr. Sato has a chemical that makes it impossible to concentrate enough to let you use your powers, and if you can't use your powers then you're in a tight problem," Royuku said as he struggled to get up.

They heard clapping behind them; both of them turned and saw a silver haired boy standing with a grin on his face.

"Aon, what are you doing here?" Royuku asked.

"It seems that my friend's pets failed once again," Aon retorted.

"So your Aon Miyamoto," Kazuma said with surprise.

"Yes I am, and the person who you're working with is the reason why Hinata is dead, presuming he told you about her."

"That's a lie," Kazuma said as he was going to take a step forward, but Royuku put an arm in front of him.

"This isn't your battle, this is mine. Take Ayano and get her out of here, he effects from the drug will wear out soon and I don't want her here when they do, the effects from the chemical will last a few days however. But I need you to get her as far away as possible. I'll be right behind you," Royuku said.

Kazuma nodded, although he didn't like walking out on the person who kidnapped Ayano. He just gave a nod and picked up Ayano in his arms and carried her off. Once Royuku was alone with Aon that's when the real battle would begin.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Memories of a silver haired girl flooded Royuku's mind, moments that he spent with her. They were mostly good moments, very few bad ones. But the worst one was the day she was killed in cold blood by Dr. Kento Sato. But now her brother, Aon Miyamoto stood before Royuku in anger for Royuku not being able to protect her.

"Aon why are you working with Dr. Sato, You do know he's the one who killed Hinata?" Royuku asked

"Lies, he didn't kill her," Aon yelled, "He promises to bring her back, to give her back to me. After you had taken her away. You are responsible for her death."

"You have it wrong, I loved Hinata," Royuku fought back.

Aon turned his back from Royuku tears filled his eyes as memories of his dear sister came to mind. "If you have truly loved her, you would have protected her. So I'm sorry to say this, but I promised to avenge her death. Good bye friend," Aon said right before turning and shooting a beam of light from his hand.

Royuku barely had time to dodge it. He jumped back right before the beam started tearing up the concrete floor where Royuku was standing just a second ago. Royuku quickly summoned some shards of dark energy and tossed them toward Aon each scratching him as he tried evading the projectiles. Aon returned fire by shooting a beam of light at Royuku who ducked behind a piece of machinery which actually withheld from the blast of energy.

Royuku called the darkness to him and allowed it to infuse him and turn him into the beast of darkness. Then he leaped out and flailed toward Aon, but Aon blasted him with a light beam which forced Royuku out of the beastly form.

"You're, not going to start that," Aon said as he ran over and physically knocked Royuku to the ground with his fist. Aon then kicked Royuku in the face.

"I will get Vengeance," Aon screamed as he shot beams of light from each of his hands point blank straight at Royuku's chest.

Eager to escape this situation, Royuku even though he was in great pain, swept his legs and brought Aon to the ground right next to him. Then he quickly got up to his feet and ran through the door that he saw Dr. Sato escape through. This door lead to a much open area where there seemed to be countless tubes filled with mutated assassins still in development. Soon a beam of light smashed its way through the doors and shattered a few of the tubes dumping enzymes on the floor. Royuku summoned the darkness to form a hard disc which Royuku whirled toward Aon which cut Aon on the arm.

"You really got better since I have last seen you, all those many years ago," Aon said.

Royuku was now hiding behind a stasis tube, with some dark shards ready to strike at Aon when he got the chance.

"How many years was it? Two maybe three? I have kept track of each day that I have woken up and Hinata was in her grave. I never forget the one who took her life from her, the one responsible for it. However what's more disappointing was that she died because of the closest person to her. I wonder what she felt right before she died. Was it anger, rage, betrayed? There are so many possibilities," Aon started rambling.

Royuku now was having memories of the moment of her death. The look of fear yet calm in Hinata's eyes. Then a faint whisper, that he could barely hear, "Thank you Royu, for everything." Royuku knew that Hinata wouldn't have wanted this to happen. So he had to put this to an end.

Royuku summoned all the strength that he had and jumping out from cover he fired a beam of darkness from his hand which collided with Aon's beam of light when he fired. The two elements started mixing together into a sphere of energy where the two beams collided. Royuku was summoning all his strength and Aon's beam was just as strong. The energy sphere turned into a void that started pulling objects into it. Royuku needed more strength, but he was using all he had in himself.

"Spirit King," Royuku grunted trying to hold his strength, "I Royuku Fujimoto, call to you through my contract, to protect those that need it, to protect them from evil in all of its forms. To bring justice to those who deserve it, please give me your strength."

His eyes closed briefly and when they opened they were glowing brightly like as if they were stars in the night. He let out a scream as he channeled this new strength given to him into the rift. Now the rifted started growing rapidly almost like an explosion.

Kazuma had finally just got out of the underground complex which was hidden under a warehouse. He was still holding a somewhat unconscious Ayano in his arms. He could feel the ground rumbling underneath him and he immediately willed the wind to pick the two of them off the ground and lift them into the air. Just as they were being carried away a large black orb came from inside the complex and swallowed it whole then disappeared.

"Holy!" Kazuma couldn't help himself from saying when he saw that it left behind a huge crater in the ground.

Even from a few fifty feet in the air he could see plainly that there was nothing left in the crater. Kazuma slowly lowered himself to the ground and shortly some cars came up to the lot. Quickly a bunch of officers and a woman came out. It was Karika Tachibana she leads in the investigation of the more "paranormal" activities.

"Looks like we got here a little late, do you have any idea what caused this?" she asked.

About four days after that event Ayano and Kazuma and Chiyoko Fujimoto, Royuku's aunt that is currently having residence at Kannagi grounds, all stood in front of a grave. There were more people earlier but they had already left. On the tombstone it had "Royuku Fujimoto, beloved nephew and friend" engraved into it. They all stood there silently until Ms. Fujimoto decided it was time to go. Ayano walked along Kazuma not saying a thing.

"You know what Ayano, you were right," Kazuma admitted.

"Right about what?" Ayano asked.

"Everything," Kazuma replied, "I'm sorry that I didn't trust you enough to believe you when you said he was a good person. And I'm sorry for quitting," Kazuma apologized.

"You were doing your job, well at least up till the quitting part you were. I shouldn't have been so trusting right away," Ayano remarked, "Anyways do you think he's out there somewhere out there?"

Kazuma was puzzled by Ayano's question. There was no possible way that Royuku could have survived that. No matter how powerful he was.

"Ayano, I hate to say this but I doubt he would come back from that," Kazuma remarked.

"But you said that the building just disappeared, it's not like that stuff can disappear into thin air. It had to go somewhere," Ayano thought out loud.

"That was practically a black hole, but if you want to believe he's still alive I won't stop you, as long as you don't do anything stupid," Kazuma said as he continued walking when Ayano stopped.

Ayano looked up at the sky hoping for some sign or something to tell her that her friend was alive. But there was none obviously, she had to accept the facts now, that Royuku was no longer with them. At least she would remember him, as long as she had him in her memories he wasn't truly dead. Ayano then noticed how far behind she was from everyone else and she ran to catch up with the rest of the group.

"Royuku I won't forget about, my friend" she whispered to herself.


	7. Epilogue

Epilogue

Dark cloud twisted and swirled in the dark realm all flowing in cohesion like some kind of thick fluid. But it was disturbed as a lard chunk of concrete, stone, and metal appeared out of nowhere and crashed on the ground shaking the world. For a little bit everything was quiet but quickly after two people crawled from the wreckage. One of them who had spikey silver hair looked around of him to see where they were.

"Where are we!?" Aon cried out in anger.

"This is the realm of the Yoma's, the realm of complete darkness. I call it Shadowed Skies, although you can call it anything you want," Royuku answered him.

Immediately the creatures of this realm took notice of Aon's presence and were hungry for him. They all started running or flying toward Aon. Scared for his life Aon started firing beams of light to kill the creatures. The creature surrounded him and soon a snake like one wrapped itself around Aon's neck and started constricting.

"Please no! Please Royuku help me!" Aon screamed before he was cut off by the sickening sound of the snake Yoma's snapping his neck.

"I'm sorry my friend," Royuku said quietly.

The yoma's now collected around Aon's body took no notice of Royuku's presence because he was filled with so much darkness that they thought he was one of them. Royuku looked up at the sky and watched the Yoma's that flew through it. They are heading toward a rip in the void, one that leads to the other world. Each rip only allows one Yoma through then disappears, and the next one doesn't appear till the first one is closed. So it was a constant race to get to the next world, to get to the regular world. Now Royuku had to race these yoma's to the rip if he was ever to get out.

He looked toward the direction they were heading, and took his first couple of steps. Soon he went from a walk into a jog and from jogging to running, and from running to full sprint. He intended to get out of this world. Because his contract is not completed yet as long as there is evil in the regular world and as long as he lives, his contract is still in effect. He was going to escape.

The End

[note: I was planning on making either a sequel to this or a Royuku origin story. Send me a PM telling me which one you would like to see next]

Sword Art Online Interlaced : The silent Aura (Sneak Peak)

Yuuto entered into a motel and tavern building. It was now just filling up with people who had just come from the floor below. Yuuto sat in a table in the dark corner, but the waitress noticed him and walked over with a smile on her face.

"Hello welcome to The Quest Finder inn may I take your order?" she asked.

"Get me food, I don't care what it is just bring me something," Yuuto said in reply.

The waitress immediately ran off to get him something as he sat in the corner alone. Not doing anything he just observed the others in the tavern, looking at people gathered together with friends and guild members enjoying themselves. The waitress brought him some food and he immediately started eating after paying twenty Cor for the small meal. He noticed from some loud laughter that entered the room that a group of three swordsmen from the Knights of the Blood Oath had entered the tavern. The Blood Oath knights where the lead group and they always annoyed Yuuto for their arrogance. That's why he enjoys every chance to prove to some of them that they aren't the best.

He saw that the guild members were heading toward him with a determined looked in there eyes. Yuuto knew what this meant. That they were going to challenge him to a duel. By now he had become famous among the low ranking members of The knights of the Blood Oath. They believe that if they beat him and force him to join the guild that they would get a promotion, probably third in command or something like that.

"Hey, are you the one they call "The Silent Aura"" the lead blood knight asked.

"First of all my name is Yukato, but people do call me that also, what do you want?" Yuuto asked.

Yukato is his username, somewhat a mix between his first and last name. This was his username for all mmo games. However people never seem to remember that, they all just called him the Silent Aura, which meant silent wind. Silent because of how little he talks to people, and wind for his great speed and agility. Agility was the skill he focused on the most, upgrading that first then his perception second which allows him to observe things faster and notice hidden object, this skill also helps when fighting too allowing him to determine a person's move within a few milliseconds and adjust himself to block their attacks.

"Well Yukato I want to challenge you to a duel," the blood knight said so predictably.

"Alright, let's do it," Yukato said getting up and heading to the door.

"What?! where are you going?" the blood knight asked.

"Outside you idiot! Because fighting in here wouldn't be the best conditions for either of us," Yukato said.

The knight thought about it and saw that it made sense and went to follow Yukato so that they might fight. Once outside in the courtyard of the city they stood on opposing sides from each other. The night sky gleamed with stars that seemed endless and unnumbered. The moon was in a waxing crescent tonight shining brighter than it would ever had in the real world. Some times Yukato thought that the creator of this world meant it to be more beautiful than the real world. Like an image of its past before it was ruined by man.

"Alright," The blood knight said, "If I win you will have to join The Knights of the Blood Oath."

"And if I win I get to choose any one item from your inventory," Yukato said.

"Deal," the blood knight said grinning.

Yukato can see it in the knight's face. This man doesn't think he could lose, which that is one of the biggest mistakes a person can make, "Thinking that they are unmatched by the enemy". Yukato however always thinks the opposite, he thinks that every enemy is stronger than him and he needs to find a strategic way to win, a plan on how to survive. He is conscious that he can lose and in this game losing is fatal in every sense of the word, for if he lost he would seize to exist in this world and in the outside world too.

The knight sent a duel request to Yukato and he accepted it. The timer started counting down from sixty, Yukato took out his feeble Iron sword and prepared himself getting in a position where the edges to his blade was diagonal thus not allowing his enemy to determine what move he would make. Once the counter hit zero the blood knight started charging toward Yukato. However Yukato sat there unmoving watching his enemy get closer.

The knight was charging with his sword at chest height with the edges vertically. This meant that he would either do an upward slash, downward slash, or the more likely lunge judging by how close he held his arms to his chest. Yukato could also tell that by how fast this person was running that this particular player focused more on strength and not speed, thus putting Yukato at an advantage because the players own might would throw him off balance if he didn't hit his target. Now Yukato had his plan and slightly adjusted his sword accordingly.

Once the blood knight had gotten close enough Yukato used his sword to push aside the blade of the blood knight causing him to stumble when his sword didn't pierce Yukato but past him. Then with a swift flick of the wrist Yukato's blade faced forward again and the knight impaled himself on the blade, he was in utter shock at what had happened. But Yukato wasn't finished yet, he quickly pulled the blade out and did a quick slash across the blood knights chest and set the knight to the ground. Promptly once the knight's health hit the orange a message popped up saying Yukato won.

The knights were surprised that Yukato had taken out their friend in only two attacks, one being a counter attack. However one of them seemed so hurt by the results he stepped forward and also challenged Yukato, with the same terms as the first knight. Yukato accepted and he waited for the counter to hit zero. This knight held his blade with the edges horizontal, which most likely meant left slash, right slash or lunge. When the timer hit zero he started charging toward Yukato also. From how loosely this one held and how the blade was slightly turned to the right Yukato could tell he was going to slash from the right also because the blade is turned that way so the swing would be faster.

Once this knight got close Yukato did a right to left diagonal upper slash with his sword which cut off the knight's sword hand and making him defenseless. Then lastly with a quick swing he slammed the hilt of his sword into the knight's head and knocked him to the ground gaining victory. Yukato looked at the two beaten swordsmen, and then he looked at the one left standing.

"Do you want to try now?" Yukato asked.

This knight still somewhat scared accepted the challenge, also with the same terms and the counter began to count down. This knight was different because the weapon he took out was a lance. These were different; since they had a long shaft to them they are able to hit targets from greater distances. However Yukato notices that the tip was wobbling a lot which meant this knight was holding it too tightly, so if Yukato hit it just right he could knock it out of the knight's hands. Once the timer hit zero the knight charged a bit but then thrust his lance forward.

To avoid getting hit Yukato jumped into the air and when he landed his foot weighed the spear head to the ground, then with a kick from his other foot Yukato knocked the spear out of the knights hands and it flipped into the air where Yukato grabbed it and then did a one eighty horizontal slash across the knights chest granting Yukato victory.

A little while later after the knights healed fully they completed their end of the bargains and let Yukato have his pick of each of their inventories. From the first knight he picked a valuable sword that the knight had actually bought for a friend, but was now in the possession of Yukato, the second knight had a much needed teleport crystal, and Yukato took the lance from the third one because he would be able to make some profit off of it. After that the knights went on their way back to their Guild home base Grandzam.

Satisfied with the duels and his acquisitions Yukato was going to retire to his room when he was approached by another player.

"Sir, I need your help," the player said.

"What is it?" Yukato asked.

"I'm Tosheka of the Running Wolves guild, and my leader had been capture," the blue haired boy informed, "There was always a power struggle in our group and I think she was betrayed to the Laughing Coffins. You need to help me save her."

Yukato stopped dead in his tracks when he heard the word "betrayed", he had bad experiences of being betrayed by those close to you. This was something serious to him; Yukato hated betrayal from the depths of his heart. It was obvious that this man saw the fights with the blood knights. No doubt that gave this person the impression that Yukato could help him.

"I'll help, where is she?"...


End file.
